Restoring Old Interior Doors

Just gather the supplies in a 5 gallon bucket and tackle the renewal project one window or door at a time whenever you have a few spare hours.

Restoring old interior doors.

This project reveals how to restore and clean old timber doors fill holes cracks and gaps refinish the wood and fix new ironmongery. Restore the shine with a fresh coat of. Over time wood doors can be tarnished by ingrained dirt and grime from dusty building work sticky fingers and pets paws and become marked from bumps and knocks but they can be brought back to life with good regular maintenance. The stripper chemicals from the dipping process can dissolve the putty holding in the panes of glass and in handling the window it can be dropped easily enough.

On this weekend workbench segment blake sloane of the rebuilding exchange helps ryan restore a sad old door without sanding stripping or any hard chemical. Start in a corner or in an inconspicuous area better to learn from your mistakes there than on the front door. If the door is an interior one you may be able to restore it by staining over the old finish and applying a new finish. An antique door is a unique problem because it s a small enough job that it seems fairly easy but important enough that you don t want to mess up since doors are so highly visible.

Then put the door back on its hinges before applying the first coat. The most common repair that needs to be done on antique doors is usually patching old hinge gains and latch holes with a wood dutchman. This 1 step diy can restore a wood front door with moderate sun damage and or discoloration. While it s still on the sawhorses seal the door s bottom and top edges with a coat of finish.

A final consideration when restoring an old door is the door glass if there is any. If so prepare the door by sanding it lightly with 220 grit sandpaper. Seal door edges before rehanging photo by kit latham. Restoration resources carries hundreds of old period doors circa 1850 1940 including interior pocket and entrance doors in many traditional styles wood types and sizes generally ranging in price from 50 to 500.

When restoring doors windows can be tricky unless you are prepared to replace some or all of the glass. You can recondition the plastic vinyl on your doors dash seats and console areas or do it all including the carpet velour and upholstery. Quick diy fix for sun damaged dry wood front door fix most sun. Otherwise there s no practical way to rehang the door without damaging the finish.

Remove old paint spots.